The last year has been quite amazing for Candice Phee [the hero of My LIfe As An Alphabet] and me! We WON the Children's Peace Prize. We WON the Gold Inky. We WON the Victorian Premier's Award for YA fiction. We were SHORTLISTED for the Adelaide Festival Award.

As you may or may not know, my novel Being Here did not win the PM's Literary Award, but it was still fabulous to have been shortlisted. So my thoughts turned towards the completion of my next book, My Life As An Alphabet, which is currently at the printers and due for release early in 2013. I am excited by this as I had so much fun writing it. Check it out by clicking on the book cover.

Being Here has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards 2012! This is very exciting news since the PM's award is not only prestigious but also the richest literary award in Australia. I am on the shortlist with some very strong YA books so I feel doubly privileged.

On Tuesday, 6th September I was in Brisbane to receive a certificate and a winner's cheque from Premier Anna Bligh for my book Being Here. It was a wonderful evening. I got the chance, not just to hob nob with the Queensland Premier, but also to spend time with my amazing editor, Jodie Webster who worked so hard on the book to make it the very best that it could be. In addition, I got the opportunity to have a celebratory drink with my good friend, Michael Gerard Bauer whose novel Just A Dog took out the prize for children's lit.

Afterwards we were treated to a laser show before I made the journey back to Darwin, richer and happier. Thanks to everyone who ma...

The Queensland Premier's Literary Awards shortlists were recently announced and I was thrilled to see that Being Here made it to the list [though it faces some REALLY tough competition]. For the full list go to:

The bi-annual Newington Festival took place at the end of March and I was honoured to launch the festival in front of the whole school. As always the students and staff were amazing and I had a fantastic time. It was also a thrill to catch up with so many wonderful colleagues like Mike Bauer and Simon Higgins, as well as making new friends amongst the writing community.

Thanks to everyone at Newington, in particular Sue Richer, for making this a great occasion.

In other news, Being Here is to be published in complex Chinese. My very first book, The Whole Business With Kiffo and the Pitbull was also published in complex Chinese so it's great to be bac...

Good friends Scot Gardner, Jim Moloney and Sean Choolburra joined me in Darwin recently for the English Teachers' Association of the NT literature festival, Words in the Wet. It was brilliant timing, since Cyclone Carlos decided to make an appearance smack in the middle of the festival. Authors were stuck in their hotels, the airport was closed and trees toppled in the cyclonic winds. Scot was particularly impressed as this was his first cyclone - he took off into the streets with his camera in a plastic bag to get photographic evidence of the experience and returned looking like a drowned rat. Despite the cyclone [which wiped out two days of the festival] students very much apprecia...

The last couple of months have been fairly busy getting my new book, Being Here, into shape and ready for publication. The good news, from my point of view, is that my work now is basically done. I have read, proofread, proofread, altered, proofread and then done some more proofreading. It is normally at this stage that I vow I will never read it again on the grounds I'm sick to death of it. Trust me - it happens when you have read something about a hundred times. But with Being Here I'm still happy to go over it and over it to make it the best that it can be. This is a first for me.

It's always a thrill when you hear of an overseas deal, but especially when it means you will be published in new territories.

So I was delighted to learn that my trilogy for Younger Readers - the Blacky series - is due for publication in Brazil. This is my first time in South America and ensures that my writing is represented throughout the entire continent. It will probably take a long time, but I am looking forward to getting my authors' copies and seeing Blacky, Marc and Dyl in Portuguese.

Being Here [just to balance the good news] has been put back to February 2011. This is not because the manuscript isn't in good shape. It is. But my editor, Jodie...

It was brilliant to catch up with some good friends - Michael Gerard Bauer, Scot Gardner and Simon Higgins - as the four of us visited schools in the Top End, including Alice Springs. Michael and I did a live broadcast from NTOEC to remote communities. They could see us but we couldn't see them, which was slightly unnerving, but great fun. In all, we visited twelve schools and on behalf of all the writers I would like to thank staff and students for making us feel so welcome. I'm already hoping to be booked for next year.

Other news: the manuscript of Being Here, my latest YA novel has been re-written ...

I was in Melbourne at the end of October for Booktalkers, Bring The Funny, an event organised by The Centre For Youth Literature. Fellow writers David Metzenthen, Penny Tangey and Kirsten Murphy were also there.

On the Tuesday we were at Carey Grammar School where extracts from our books were performed by a bunch of very talented actors. Trust me, it is a strange feeling to see a character you created walking around a stage! All of the writers were impressed with the quality of the performances and the students at Carey seemed to enjoy it as well as the talks we provided afterwards. On the Wednesday students visited the State Library for more performances and ta...

To start with, there are two books due out early in the year. Blacky Blasts Back: On The Tail of the Tassie Tiger is due out in January and is the third in the Blacky the Farting Dog series for younger readers, 9-12 years old.

This time, Blacky and his mates, Marc and Dyl, have to travel to Tasmania to complete their biggest mission yet. Click here to check out the progress of the book.

Then there is my picture book for Omnibus that comes out in January. It is part of the Mates series and is called The Heart of the Forest. I...

What's an eleven-year-old boy to do when an ugly dog called Blacky appears on his bed and tells him he has been given the mission to rescue God? This is a 'fast and funny book' from CBCA-shortlisted author Barry Jonsberg.